My Cancer Treatments So Far posted 10/23/2008 8:43:03 AM | 5 kudos what's this?     report abuse tagged: cancer

drs297

My Daily Routine

As I have stated before this for me is a form of letting things out which can sometimes build inside while going through certain events in life, for me it is this mini journal of dealing and beating this cancer again.

I truly would like to thank all of you who have written, sent prayers and well wishes to someone that you have never met before, truly is beyond what one can imagine.

The Prep and getting ready::
Since the first time I had chemo which was merely injected into the bladder and controlled in that invironment, the plan of attack for this process is different and involves a lot more and daily treatments.

Before I was able to actually start the radiation and chemo treatments there were a few steps which had to be done in advance, a game plan or avenue of attack if you will. I arrived to meet with the oncologist team so they could go over all the testing which was done in advance to review what was going to be happening, exam results, benefits and negatives of radiation.along with possible side effects. Basically the prep is really no different from what you have already been through to be diagnosed in the first place, scans, blood work and the such. Once you go through this you have what they call a simulation, this is needed so they can make damn sure when applying the radiation it is going to where it should and not just shooting aimlessly around your body like a kid with his first video game. I’m sure it is different for each area or the doctors involved but they placed little stickers on the body to help with ready, aim fire of the beams, these are a temp. thing until they placed little tattoo dots in place of the stickers, only pain in the ass part is not being able to get into water or shower for 4 days, gotta make sure those bad boys stayed attached until the dots were put on.. No way in hell was I going to let them fall and try to guess where they went. After the whole radiation meeting it was onwards and upwards to meet with the chemo team, at this point I was pretty much getting bored, pissed off and just wanted to leave, you get at a stage of shit just start already but I know it is something they must do. So after what seemed like an all day affair I went home and got drunk, okay I didn’t but thought about it really really really hard. Was all set for the weekend and the beginning of week one to come.

Weeks 1 and 2 :
D-day arrives!! I rise and shine all ready to get the day started and head on into the what I call my home away from home, noticed they need to dust better around there. Anyways, I arrive sign in and sit back and rest until I hear those words, Mr. Smith, what a shocker there are 3 of us with that last name so we all start looking around like can you be a little more specific.

The whole radiation process is a breeze and walk in the park as far as treatments go, you go in they set you up using the dots put on ealier and zap zap. Even though was told all about it and reading up on it you still have in your head that they are lying and just not telling you something, but nope, painless and really quick. I mean literally under 30 seconds for each spot, so you don’t have time to think about anything.

This will be my routine daily for 7 weeks, there are no days off or timeouts from it unless a holiday happens to come around.. It is a major pain in the ass having to drive there everyday for a few minutes but that is how things go and nothing you can do about it so go with it. I didn’t mention to someone that I wonder if I could write off the mileage on my taxes, you know medical expenses and all.

Monday – Thursday I take a pill for my chemo treatments and on Fridays I have it done via the IV and have to be there for a few hours while it drips into the system, normally I’ll take my laptop or something to keep me busy while sitting there waiting, these are the longest days since I’m also getting radiation. Once done I was giving you are given
An anti-nausea drug to take when needed, an anti diarra drug ( don’t worry won’t go into details of this one) and also a corticosteroid thingy to take 3 days after the drip, so I am my own walking pharmacy.

During the first week everything was going great, just a few mild fevers but hell we all get those and they don’t bother ya. From previous chemo treatments was thinking this should a breeze and these 7 weeks will fly by like nothing. WHAM BOOM BAM!!! Holy zapper shit Batman, we have an alert. For some damn reason bout half way through week two I was having side effects. I guess I’m one of the lucky ones who gets them, I blame all the years of drinking Jack Daniels for killing my cells. Haha

I have had nauseous, fevers, tired and some foods don’t agree with me at all, not to mention a little lost of taste buds. All in all it is going along smoothly and nothing happening which is throwing up red flags, like I have been told everybody reacts differently and it really is a case by case thing.

As of writing this I’m in Week 3 and starting to feel more and more tired with the other side effects of fevers and shit hanging around, does wear you down.. When I go to sleep each night I drift off to sleep and wait till the next day to see what kind it will be. There are days I wake feeling great and don’t have any signs of treatments, these are the days I try to take in as much as possible to help me through the bad ones.

Welp, I guess before you and hell even I fall asleep reading this will sign off for now…

Remember Life Is A Journey. So live each day and not sit on your ass watching it go by.

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